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SCIENCE
An Epic Fight Over What Really Killed the Dinosaurs
Think back to any dinosaur illustration you saw as a kid. The background was almost certainly one of two things: an asteroid streaking across the sky or a volcano blowing its…
DNA Drives Help Identify Missing People. It’s a Privacy Nightmare
That’s why Natalie Ram, a law professor at the University of Maryland, cautions that, although families of missing loved ones may be desperate to get answers, it matters which…
Scientists Have an Audacious Plan to Map the Ancient World Before It Disappears
In the center of Siena, Italy, a cathedral has stood for nearly 800 years. A black-and-white layer cake of heavy stone, fine-cut statuary, and rich mosaics, the imposing…
The Climate Crisis Is Driving People to Substance Abuse
Kamal Sonavane knew she’d pass out if she chewed smokeless tobacco one more time. It was a scorching April afternoon in the middle of another of India’s brutal heat waves, and…
Why Rain Is Getting Fiercer on a Warming Planet
One of the weirder side effects of climate change is what it’s doing to rainfall. While most people think about global warming in terms of extreme heat—the deadliest kind of…
How NASA Is Protecting Its Precious Asteroid Bennu Sample
The NASA recovery team began by taking samples of the desert ground and atmosphere where the capsule landed. Then they gingerly loaded it onto a helicopter and transported it to…
How to Make a Pig Heart Transplant Last in a Person
With any organ transplant, doctors are trying to balance how to prevent infections while tamping down the immune system. Without immunosuppressive drugs, the transplant organ…
The Secret of How Cells Make ‘Dark Oxygen’ Without Light
The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine.Scientists have come to realize that in the soil and rocks beneath our feet there lies a vast biosphere with a…
The World’s Largest—and Stinkiest—Flower Is in Danger of Extinction
This story originally appeared in The Guardian and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.Parasitic, elusive, and emitting an overwhelming odor of putrefying flesh,…
Behold the Latest Treasures Unearthed at Mexico City’s Templo Mayor
In addition to his military achievements, Moctezuma I is remembered for his focus on the cultural and religious development of Tenochtitlán. He promoted the construction and…